Sights & SoundsJeff Bennett and Jeremy Bennett
Ever since the automobile went into mass production by the assembly lines of Detroit, it has been revised, altered, elaborated, and reconstructed in small garages and car shops throughout America. …
Sights & SoundsChris Prillaman and Tanner Talley
Franklin County is famous for its long history of producing and selling moonshine, or homemade liquor. Virginia colonists were distilling corn whiskey—boiling a fermented mash of milled grain and then …
Sights & SoundsGrayson Chesser and P.G. Ross, Mark Ross, Drew Sturgis, and Andy Dunton
The Eastern Shore of Virginia, a narrow peninsula stretching roughly seventy-five miles between the Atlantic Ocean and the Chesapeake Bay, has long nourished the artistry of waterfowl decoy carving. The …
Sights & SoundsGary Horton and Tommy Horton
Gary Horton learned traditional logsmithing and historic home restoration from the late Don Chapman, widely considered the trade’s greatest master in Southwest Virginia. During his lifetime, Don disassembled, restored, and …
Sights & SoundsGene Williams and Lee Bagley
The early 1900s saw a surge of independent candy makers in Virginia, with dozens of confectioners operating statewide, from Bristol to Norfolk. In 1917, a young candy enthusiast named Shafter …
Sights & SoundsEvelyn Lahman and Dr. T. Michael Gilley
Sadly, Evelyn Lahman passed away on June 13, 2017, shortly after receiving her apprenticeship. A craft originally born of necessity, the fiber arts continue to thrive throughout southern Appalachia. In …
Sights & SoundsGreg Galbreath and Peter Keller
Just as old-time mountain music has risen in popularity across America and the world, so has the art of banjo making. Unlike the three-finger-picking style for bluegrass banjo popularized by …
NewsWhat’s Cooking? Food makes the Showcase special
What makes the Virginia Folklife Apprenticeship Showcase special? The unique stories of the food purveyors who participate in this annual event. This year’s Showcase on Sunday, May 7 at James …
Sights & SoundsRick Green and Jon Butler
Blacksmithing was among the first craft trades Europeans brought to the New World; in fact, a blacksmith was among the original group of 104 settlers that the Virginia Company of …
Sights & SoundsSean “Purl” Samoheyl and David Rogers
Sean Samoheyl is a resident of the Twin Oaks Community in Louisa County—an intentional community founded on the principles of egalitarianism and sustainability. One of numerous intentional communities created in …
Sights & SoundsDanny Wingate and Sam Linkous
Appalachia, a region that includes Southwest Virginia, could arguably be called America’s first frontier. As early as the eighteenth century, European settlements began to expand west, with many colonists making …
Sights & SoundsJim King and Jackson Cunningham
Beekeeping is the care of honeybee colonies, commonly in hives, to stimulate crop pollination and to ensure the production of honey and other hive products, including beeswax, propolis, and royal …
